Franz von Bergenheim
Franz Albrecht von Bergenheim, also known as Hans '''or '''Franzl is a major character in Kingdom Life II: The Bergenheim Saga, first appearing in Part I. He is Wilhelm's von Bergenheim brother. He was formally a Generalfeldmarschall in the Royal Army, and former commander of the Bergenheim Order, before becoming best friends with the servant woman Adeline, which caused him to become a employee in the parlor. Appearance and Personality Franz is a clean, pale man with a large mustache and brown hair. He is of a muscular build with blue eyes. He is around 6'1 in height. Originally he wore a large set of plate armor, but soon this was replaced with a male servant's outfit over time with brown pants and black shoes. He commonly wears a small, tattered red cape from his military days. In terms of personality, Franz is a very calm man. Though, at times he can get worried easily. He is usually friendly towards others but is especially caring towards his friends and family. Though, depending on some situations, Franz can be rather grim and sad. He generally enjoys making others laugh and seems to loath it when they get sad and or upset. Franz usually never get's angry, but when he does it's usually when he is in combat. History Pre Bergenheim Saga 'Achtung! Hände hoch! Spoilers: '' } Spoilers Ahead! ''' Franz Albrecht von Bergenheim was born March 5th, 1280, in Munich, Bavaria in the Kingdom of Germany, which was apart of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the son of Nobleman and Doctor Hans Georg von Bergenheim and the Noblewoman and Artist Charlotte Marie von Schöffenberg, his paternal grandfather is Generalfeldmarschall Johann von Bergenheim, who at the time was in service of the King and the Holy Roman Emperor. His brother was the future politician and scientist Wilhelm Fritz von Bergenheim, future protagonist of Part I. His family later moved to the town the von Bergenheim's ruled over, Bergenheim, a small town on the outskirts of Munich. And lived in the ancestral Bergenheim Castle. His family, the von Bergenheim family had been a noble family in the Kingdom since the year 1000, because of their ancestor Viktor von Bergenheim, a famous military commander who defeated the Elven Armies during the Elven War of Succession. And even before that the von Bergenheim had been noble in Bavaria and Germany since the 800's. Thus his family had the title of Prince of Bergenheim, around the time Franz was born, Hans Georg was the current Prince of Bergenheim. Franz had a relatively good childhood, he loved to study history and military tactics, though he also loved too study music and oddly cooking. When he was around 7, his grandfather Johann would take Franz and Wil on hiking trips through the Bavarian Alps, which Franz and Wil still passionately remember. Franz, then, began his training as a knight, in the training of a Lithuanian Knight named Emilis. When his father Hans was not busy he would take Franz and Wil out to visit friends and family. And when his father and grandfather were busy, his mother, Charlotte, as she always was, would be extremely affectionate towards Franz and Wil, not letting them leave her sight. Franz was a common subject of some of his mothers artwork, considering he had her same brown hair and blue eyes. Franz considered his mother, alongside everyone else in his family to be some of the biggest influences on his life. However, this, sadly, wouldn't last long. Charlotte, who's mental health began to decline, soon developed depression when Franz was 12 years old, his brother 14. It's believed that she had inherited the mental illness from her father, Herman, and that she felt useless, believing she didn't contribute too much to the family. Franz constantly worried for his mothers safety, often checking on her when she began to cry. Franz and his brother Wil would constantly try to make his mother happy, but to no avail. Finally, on March 15th, 1294, his mother committed suicide by jumping off a building outside of Bergenheim when Franz was 14 years old, his brother 16. Franz was greatly affected by his mother's passing, his father Hans would constantly be grief stricken, Johann would begin his descent into Authortarianism as a way to deal with the loss. Wil wouldn't talk for days, and Franz, according to some of the family's servants, 'Would cry for hours on end.' Franz and Wil would never really recover from the suicide. Soon, he became a knight after finishing his training, but then ranked up the ranks by inheritance and his skills until he became a Generalfeldmarschall a month before the events of Part I, it was also by then that Johann resigned as leader of the Bergenheim Order, and Franz become it's leader by inheritance. In which he then went over to the Kingdom. Part I Franz, one day, while hiking with his men in the Kingdom's mountains when he discovered what was presumed to be a statue, but really was Jøh in his 500 year old entombment. Soon, the mages among the men concluded it had magical properties, and by Franz's orders, the statue was taken out of the mountain and taken back to the castle to under go research by Wilhelm and his team of scientists. Soon, a day before the statue was going to be analyzed, Jøh broke out of his entombment and activated his Double Spirit the Queen's Man after being put within close contact with magic, after hearing news of this and Jøh killing the two guards near him, Franz informed Wil and the hunt for Jøh began. Franz would then come under attack by Jøh's minions for days on end, sometimes he couldn't go outside for a second before an arrow would come flying towards him, all of which he was able to successfully dodge. By then Franz was then sent to the Castle to investigate possible clues of Jøh, when he was hit by a highly explosive potion launched by the Queen's Man at Franz, not killing him but having him be sent into a military hospital for 2 weeks. Soon, when he returned he was then again attacked by the Queen's Man in the same way, but this time Franz only received minor injuries. Two months passed, after Wil gained his own double Spirit, Rammstein, however, Franz became more hopeful. During this time he kept fighting off minor attacks from minions of Jøh and kept researching him, leaving him however with no major break throughs. Until, the Jøhists, a religion which had formed after Jøh's original attempt of invasion 500 years ago, lead a Peasant Uprising in the name of Jøh in a minor village called Franklinsville. Franz was ordered personally by Johann to join his men in the upcoming battle, Franz decided to join his men in the battle. Wil at this time had also successfully defeated and killed the Queen's Man with Rammstein in a major fight on the Wizard Tower. The Battle of Franklinsville was one of the most brutal events in his life, in which he was assumed killed in combat after he was flung off his dead horse during enemy bow and arrow fire. Franz, who over the past few months began to develop symptoms of PTSD, was greatly affected during the battle. And so, when he was assumed dead, he secretly fled the battlefield. Believed to be dead he was replaced as leader of the Bergenheim Order by Johann. The next few weeks of Franz's life would be some of the most brutal in his entire life, he would walk sometimes for hours on end with barely any breaks just to avoid getting spotted. He would only eat stolen food from farms, or sometimes cooked crow if he was lucky. He soon found his way back to the capital where he went under the alias of Hans, he soon became an alcoholic for a period of time, that is where he met Marie Di Silanto, an Italian Noblewoman and singer. Whilst he was intoxicated he wondered off with her to a small building, later that morning Franz, who awoke with a hangover, fled, correctly assuming he had done what he thought he had. By now all attacks by Jøh came to a halt. Franz then hid in the forests for one more week, his food rations ran out quickly, so he took to eating bark and pieces of his shoes boiled if lucky. He then grew tired of this and successfully left the forests and entered the castle, where he ran into Orabelle, a member of the Parlor. He was then put under the Parlors custody, where he finally cleaned himself off and generally felt better. By now he then ran into one of the greatest people in his life, Adeline, a female servant working in the parlor. The two soon became great friends, as she then noted that he would hide his starved appearance by shoving leafs into his jacket, shocked, she began to feed Franz constantly. Franz soon regained a majority of his weight and muscle, and kept his strong friendship with Adeline. Even after, Adeline would always try to feed Franz her food, in many ways. One day, Adeline got upset after being pushed by a customer to talk about her parents, in which she sound left, Franz followed, worried. She soon locked herself into her house, Franz waited outside and worringly waited, when Jøh successfully found him. Jøh began to taunt Franz, saying that he was useless, too feminine, and a disgrace to his family and ancestors. Considering he was both an enemy of Franz and the Bergenheim Order, Jøh quickly impaled Franz's Right Arm, breaking it, and using his magic, flung him with incredible force onto a tree, which almost killed him. Adeline then bandaged up his then destroyed Right Arm, something that Franz constantly thanks Adeline for. Franz would be employed at the parlor by this time. Sightings of Franz then leaked to the Bergenheim Order, in which he was confirmed alive, and a manhunt that would last for a month began. Finally, after being gifted a male servants outfit by Adeline, Franz was finally captured by his grandfather Johann and his men with Adeline besides Franz in the parlor. Johann then slightly beat Franz, enraged that he was working with servant men and women. Johann then had Franz personally banned from inheriting any noble titles from the von Bergenheim family, his military career would be over, he would be shunned for his affair with Marie, he couldn't become leader of the Bergenheim Order again, and would face 2 months in Prison. Though soon, after Johann and his men left the capital, Adeline, using a small War Hammer she owned, freed Franz, by attacking the guards who locked him away in a small underground prison. Something that Franz is incredibly grateful for. By know, Jøh's words deeply affected Franz, as he believed they were true based on his experiences, despite Adeline desperately trying to convince him otherwise. He soon became a full fledged waiter at the Parlor, and he and Adeline decided to take a quick vacation over to another Kingdom to wait until it was safe to go back to working at the parlor. Franz and Adeline soon climbed a mountain, in which they got pecked at by some birds that Adeline scared away, and soon went out to eat at a restaurant. Trivia * Jonathan Joestar serves as a massive influence on Franz, though he does have some influences from Joseph Joestar and Rudol von Stroheim. All of those characters in which come from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. * Though it may seem like Franz and Wil aren't related, they possess identical skin pigments and massive mustaches, as a nod to Imperial German Wilhelmism. * His name comes from Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I and Franzl Lang, a German folk music singer. Category:Major Characters Category:Part I Characters Category:Noble Characters Category:Bergenheim Family Category:Part I